Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common problem and is expensive to manage in both primary and secondary care settings. This condition results from exposure of esophageal mucosa to gastric acid as the acid refluxes from the stomach into the esophagus. The acid damages the esophageal mucosa resulting in heartburn, ulcers, bleeding, and scarring, and long term complications such as Barrett's esophagus (pre-cancerous esophageal lining) and adeno-cancer of the esophagus. Transient relaxation of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) is believed to be the primary mechanism of the disease although the underlying cause remains uncertain.
Lifestyle advice and antacid therapy is advocated as first line treatment for the disease. However since most patients with moderate to severe cases of GERD do not respond adequately to these first-line measures and need further treatment, therefore other alternatives including pharmacological, endoscopic, and surgical treatments are employed.
The most commonly employed pharmacological treatment is daily use of H2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) or proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) for acid suppression. Since gastro-esophageal reflux disease usually relapses once drug therapy is discontinued, most patients with the disease, therefore, need long-term drug therapy. However, daily use of PPIs or H2RAs is not universally effective in the relief of GERD symptoms or as maintenance therapy. Additionally, not all patients are comfortable with the concept of having to take daily or intermittent medication for the rest of their lives and many are interested in nonpharmacological options for managing their reflux disease.
Several endoscopic procedures for the treatment of GERD are being tried. These procedures can be divided into three approaches—endoscopic suturing where stitches are inserted in the gastric cardia to plicate and strengthen the lower esophageal sphincter; the endoscopic application of radio-frequency to the lower esophagus; and the injection of bulking agents into the muscle layer of the distal esophagus. These procedures, however, are not without their risks, besides being technically demanding and involving a long procedure time. As a result, these procedures have largely been discontinued.
Open surgical or laparoscopic fundoplication is also used to correct the cause of the disease. However, surgical procedures suffer from the disadvantages that they are associated with significant morbidity and small but finite mortality. Moreover, long-term follow-up with patients treated by surgery suggests that many patients continue to need acid suppressive medication. There is also no convincing evidence that fundoplication reduces the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma in the long term.
Besides GERD, obesity is a common condition and a major public health problem in developed nations including the United States of America. Today, 64.5% of American adults, about 127 million people, are either overweight or obese. Data suggest that 300,000 Americans die prematurely from obesity-related complications each year. Many children are overweight or obese in the United States; hence, the steady increase in the number of overweight Americans is expected to continue. It has been estimated that obesity costs the United States approximately $100 billion annually in direct and indirect health care expenses and in lost productivity. This trend is also apparent in many other developed countries.
Morbid obesity is defined as possessing either a body weight more than 100 pounds greater than normal or a body mass index (BMI) greater than 40 kg/m2. Approximately 5% of the U.S. population meets at least one of these definitions. A BMI greater than 30 kg/m2 is associated with significant co-morbidities. Morbid obesity is associated with many diseases and disorders including, for example, diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks, strokes, dyslipidemia, sleep apnea, Pickwickian Syndrome, asthma, lower back and disc disease, weight-bearing osteo-arthritis of the hips, knees, ankles and feet, thrombophlebitis and pulmonary emboli, intertriginous dermatitis, urinary stress incontinence, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), gallstones, and sclerosis and carcinoma of the liver. In women, infertility, cancer of the uterus, and cancer of the breast are also associated with morbid obesity. Taken together, the diseases associated with morbid obesity markedly reduce the odds of attaining an average lifespan and raise annual mortality in affected people by a factor of 10 or more.
Current treatments for obesity include diet, exercise, behavioral treatments, medications, surgery (open and laproscopic) and endoscopic devices. Also, additional treatments for obesity are currently being evaluated in drug clinical trials. However, a high efficacy pharmaceutical treatment has not yet been developed. Further, short-term and long-term side effects of pharmaceutical treatments may concern consumers, pharmaceutical providers, and/or their insurers. Generally, diet or drug therapy programs have been consistency disappointing and fail to bring about significant, sustained weight loss in the majority of morbidly obese people.
Currently, most morbid obesity operations are, or include, gastric restrictive procedures, involving the creation of a small (e.g., 15-35 mL) upper gastric pouch that drains through a small outlet (e.g., 0.75-1.2 cm), setting in motion the body's satiety mechanism. About 15% of morbid obesity operations done in the United States involve gastric restrictive surgery combined with a malabsorptive procedure. Typical malabsorptive procedures divide small intestinal flow into a biliary-pancreatic conduit and a food conduit. Potential long-term problems with surgical procedures, including those seen after any abdominal procedure, are notorious and can include, for example, ventral hernia and small bowel obstruction. In addition, long-term problems specific to bariatric procedures can include, for example, gastric outlet obstruction, marginal ulceration, protein malnutrition, and vitamin deficiency.
Other surgical strategies for treating obesity include endoscopic procedures, many of which are still in development. Endoscopically placed gastric balloons restrict gastric volume and result in satiety with smaller meals. Endoscopic procedures and devices to produce gastric pouch and gastrojejunal anastomosis to replicate laporoscopic procedures are also in development. These procedures, however, are not without risks.
Gastric electric stimulation (GES) is another procedure that is currently in clinical trial. GES employs an implantable, pacemaker-like device to deliver low-level electrical stimulation to the stomach. The procedure involves the surgeon suturing electrical leads to the outer lining of the stomach wall. The leads are then connected to the device, which is implanted just under the skin in the abdomen. Using an external programmer that communicates with the device, the surgeon establishes the level of electrical stimulation appropriate for the patient. The Transcend® implantable gastric stimulation device, manufactured by Transneuronix Corporation, is currently available in Europe for treatment of obesity.
In another example, Medtronic offers for sale and use the Enterra™ Therapy, which is indicated for the treatment of chronic nausea and vomiting associated with gastroparesis when conventional drug therapies are not effective. The Enterra™ Therapy uses mild electrical pulses to stimulate the stomach. According to Medtronic, this electrical stimulation helps control the symptoms associated with gastroparesis including nausea and vomiting.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,901,295, issued to the inventor, describes an implantable apparatus for electrical stimulation of the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). It relies on sensing certain physiological changes in the esophagus, such as changes in esophageal pH, to detect acid reflux, which is required for generating electrical stimulation in order to abort the episode of acid reflux through the LES into the esophagus. pH sensing is conventionally used to detect GERD, in the form of a 24 hour pH test. Additionally impedance pH testing is also used to detect GERD and using pattern recognition, pH of the refluxate could be assessed using impedance pH testing.
There is still a need for a safe and effective method of treatment that can help alleviate symptoms of GERD in the long term, without adversely affecting the quality of life of the patients. In addition, there is still a need for minimally invasive and effective treatment for obesity. Moreover, there is not only a need for better devices in stimulation based therapies, but there is also a need for a safe and minimally invasive method and system that enables easy and expeditious deployment of such devices at any desired location in the body. Most of the currently available devices are available for surgical or laparoscopic implantation and suffer from common problem of pocket infection, lead dislodgment or fracture.
Furthermore, there is still a need for a device and method for implanting microstimulator devices within the gastrointestinal system. Stimulators are typically implanted surgically. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,076,305 and 7,016,735 disclose an implantable device for electrically stimulating the stomach wall to cause gastric motility or otherwise treat gastrointestinal related disorders. The device is implanted using an endoscope. As designed, deployment can only occur in the stomach lumen and requires the use of a protective overtube for repeated passage of endoscope, passing the device into the stomach and to prevent instruments and devices from inadvertently dropping into the trachea and prevent bacterial contamination which can happen with multiple passes of the instruments. Overtubes are cumbersome, technically difficult, and associated with complications such as perforation, gastrointestinal wall tears and bleeding.